Many video games, particularly mobile video game applications, have one or more achievements. Completing an achievement may allow a user to progress in the game and/or provide the user with a reward such as in game currency, experience points, or an in-game item (e.g., a weapon, a power-up, a defensive capability, etc.). Completing an achievement may be referred to as unlocking the achievement. In some cases, an achievement may be known as a trophy, badge, award, medal, challenge, etc. An achievement may not be directly related to a goal of a particular game. An achievement may be an arbitrary challenge created by a game developer to be met by the player. It may refer to a challenge that exists outside the usual confines of a game's level. For example, if the game is a first person shooter, the goal may be to complete an in-game mission such as rescuing a majority of a trapped group of people in an allotted time. An example of an achievement may be to rescue all of the people in the trapped group. Another achievement may be to rescue the people without firing a single shot. Thus, the achievements may be meant to enhance the playability of the game beyond the in-game missions/quests.
An achievement may be rated by the developer to indicate to game players how difficult the achievement might be. Some gaming platforms maintain achievements beyond the scope of a game itself. For example, a sports game maker may have a football, basketball, and racing series of games. Achievements may be related to ownership of all three types of games. Achievements earned in a game may be associated with points on the platform, which in turn may be used to rank each user of the platform.
Typically, an achievement's difficulty may be determined by a developer or game manufacturer and it may be arbitrary. This may make the achievement lack consistency or meaning between game applications, particularly those made by a different developer. Another issue may be that the developer may be responsible for maintaining an achievement system which can require a substantial amount of work and delay game releases. Further, it may not solve the inconsistency issue mentioned above. If an achievement does not have a difficulty indicator, it may not engage users has much as if there was a difficult indicator. For example, a player may be able to earn several easy achievements or one difficult achievement with the same effort. The incentive to pursue the difficult achievement may be reduced when there is no accolade for it.